Whatever happens in the future, the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans will remain the first since 1923 to be run behind closed doors and to have the start given at 14:30. It was also the second to be held in September due to a change of its original dates. Thus, unlike the two previous editions it was not the last round of the WEC season. A number  of  basic  changes  had  to  be  made  leading  to a raft of modifications to the schedule: the test day, scrutineering in the town centre, and activities in the communes around the Sarthe Prefecture  and Friday’s Parade were all cancelled.  The Automobile Club de l’Ouest had to reschedule the time scale of practice and pre-race ceremonies. Despite these modifications the event took place with 59 cars at the start.

Toyota’s third  victory  on  the  bounce  means  that  it kept the  Trophy to which it was home between  two races  since June 2018.  This accolade  was shared with Sébastien  Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima who joined the very select club of three-time winners of the event. Brendon Hartley, thanks to his victory with Porsche in 2017, became a member of the larger group of drivers having triumphed in the Sarthe on two occasions. The race  was hotly contested in LM P2 between two British teams, separated by just a handful of seconds at the finish, followed home by a third Oreca entered by the team run by Olivier  Panis.  In the  LM GTE Pro category there was a fantastic battle  between title holders, Ferrari,  and Aston Martin,  which emerged victorious after  24 hours of suspense and multiple leadership  changes.  Aston Martin  also  won the  LM GTE Am category  proving the  qualities  of  the  Vantage  that  has become a modern-day endurance racing icon. The story of these five exceptional days is told and brilliantly illustrated  in this annual, the 43rd   in a long line stretching back to 1978. The evolution of the regulations is also outlined with the arrival of the new Hypercar category, the ACO-IMSA convergence  and the  promises  of  an  electric- hydrogen prototype that has a very bright future ahead of it.